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Tamil Nadu Cops To Search Central Probe Agency Offices In Bribe Case

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Tamil Nadu Cops To Search Central Probe Agency Offices In Rs 3 Crore Bribe Case

The ED has claimed Rs 4,500 crore of corruption in Tamil Nadu related to illegal sand mining (File).

Chennai:

Tamil Nadu Police have arrested an Enforcement Directorate officer in Madurai for allegedly extorting Rs 20 lakh in cash from a state government employee. As part of the ongoing investigation, police are searching the central agency’s offices in the city and the officer’s residence, and have seized several documents. This is the first time Tamil Nadu has arrested an Enforcement Directorate officer.

The officer in question – Ankit Tiwari – has been sent to judicial custody till December 15.

The Enforcement Directorate has not responded so far.

According to the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption, Mr Tiwari originally demanded Rs 3 crore to “avert legal action” in a case that had already been settled. He contacted the employee on October 29, claimed he was acting on instructions from the Prime Minister’s Office, and summoned him to the agency’s Madurai office. When he came, Mr Tiwari accosted him and demanded the Rs 3 crore bribe, which he later brought down to Rs 51 lakh claiming he had “spoken to his superiors”.

The first installment of Rs 20 lakh was paid on November 1. The government employee was subsequently harassed by Mr Tiwari for the remaining Rs 31 lakh. On November 30 he lodged a complaint with the DVAC and, at 10.30 am today Friday, the department arrested Ankit Tiwari.

DVAC sources told NDTV Mr Tiwari was caught “red-handed” following a high-speed car chase. 

The DVAC is also investigating if Mr Tiwari received money from threatening or blackmailing others.

State Vs ED In Madras High Court

Mr Tiwari’s arrest comes as the Tamil Nadu government and the central investigative agency are at loggerheads over the latter’s summons to five district collectors; this is in connection with a probe into alleged money laundering linked to illegal sand mining.

In a moment of relief for Chief Minister MK Stalin’s administration, the Madras High Court this week stayed the summons for three weeks. It did not, though, stay the probe.

The summoned collectors – from the Ariyalur, Vellore, Thanjavur, Karur and Tiruchirapalli districts – and the state government have been given three weeks to respond to the ED.

READ | “Completely Illegal”: Probe Agency Summons To 5 Tamil Nadu Officers Paused

The state, though, had argued the ED does not have the authority to make such demands and that its summons to the five collectors is against the spirit of federalism.

It was also argued the central agency ought to seek such details, if needed, only via the state government, and that it could not conduct an inquiry without the latter’s consent.

Citing a survey by an expert from the Indian Institute of Technology, the ED claimed illegal sand mining worth Rs 4,500 crore had taken place across Tamil Nadu in two years.

DMK Mouthpiece Slams Enforcement Directorate

The ED official’s arrest comes on the day the ruling DMK’s mouthpiece, Murasoli, accused the BJP that is in power at the centre of using the agency to malign its image. The newspaper questioned the ED’s claim of corruption, challenging the basis of the alleged “arbitrary” figure and demanding proof.

“The BJP uses Enforcement Directorate to create a black mark against DMK. ED said some random numbers… that, in two years, Rs 4,730 crore of corruption was uncovered in sand mining. How do they know how much sand was in the river two years ago? They are just making up these numbers… “

With input from agencies

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World

Iran dismisses E3 statement on Fattah 2 hypersonic missile

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Nasser Kan’ani  emphasized the end of all missile restrictions of the Islamic Republic of Iran at the level of the UN Security Council from October 18, the IRNA reported on Friday.

He described the claims made in the E3 statement as unacceptable and lacking any legal basis.

Developing the conventional missile capability of the Islamic Republic of Iran is aimed at deterrence and based on the country’s defense needs, he stated.

The baseless accusations of some parties do not affect Iran’s rights and legitimate actions in the field of military defense, he stated.

Kan’ani advised the three European countries to avoid making claims that do not help Iran-Europe interactions.

Earlier on October 18, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Ali Bagheri Kani said that all restrictions imposed on the Iranian individuals and entities mentioned in the UNSC 2231 resolution were terminated and the list was removed from the United Nations website.

Maintaining such restrictions or imposing new sanctions in this framework is a clear violation of the text and spirit of UNSC Resolution 2231.

According to the provisions of UNSCR 2231, which was issued about eight years ago, the restrictions imposed on Iran’s ballistic missile activities expired on October 18, 2023.

MNA

India

Olympic Chief Thomas Bach 'Very Satisfied' With Paris 2024 Village

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Olympic chief Thomas Bach said he was “very satisfied” with the state of preparations for the Olympic Village of the Paris 2024 Summer Games after a visit to the new build north of the French capital on Friday. “As an Olympian it’s always a great moment to be in an Olympic Village,” said Bach, who won Olympic fencing team gold for West Germany in the 1976 Games and now heads the International Olympic Committee (IOC). “Every Olympian will tell you that once the Games are over and he’s meeting other Olympic athletes, after one minute at the latest, they will both will speak about the Olympic Village and the experience they made there. This is where the heart of the Olympic Games will beat.”

Bach called the Village, which will house 14,500 athletes and their staff, “really spectacular: it’s compact, it’s very pragmatic”.

“You see not only me but the entire IOC executive board very, very happy and very satisfied with the Village and with the state of preparations,” he said.

The Village covers the equivalent of 70 football pitches and will go on to host 9,000 athletes for the Paralympic Games that follow the July 26-August 11 Olympics before becoming “a part of the surrounding city, for people in Seine-Saint-Denis”.

The chief organiser of the 2024 Paris Olympics, Tony Estanguet, said he expected no surprises before completion of the Village in the city’s northern surburbs at the end of December with the handover of keys scheduled for early March.

“Les timings are perfectly respected,” insisted Estanguet, a three-time Olympic gold medallist for France in canoeing.

Metro ticket hike ‘fair’

Bach batted off criticism by Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo who said that, while the Games infrastructure will be ready, “there are two things for which we will not be ready”, namely transport and also the problem of homelessness.

“Our partner is the organising committee and there’s been no split with them,” he said.

In a separate address to media, the head of the Paris region’s transport authority, Valerie Pecresse, said almost doubling the price of metro tickets during the Paris Olympics was “fair”.

Single tickets will be sold for four euros ($4.37), compared to 2.10 euros now, and 10-ticket blocks for 32 euros, compared to 16.90 currently.

The cost, Pecresse added, is “not borne” by people living in the Paris region, with the transport chief estimating that additional expense to the authority at 200 million euros.

“What is shocking? It’s the real price. Who wants to pay? The Paris mayor wants to? The Seine-Saint-Denis department? The local organising committee? It’s not residents of the Paris region who will pay,” said Pecresse.

Looking ahead to France’s potential performance on home soil, Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera underlined her “obviously demanding” goal of the country finishing in the top five in the overall medal table.

“It would be premature to predict a (more precise) rank in the medal table because many uncertainties remain,” she added.

France finished eighth at the Tokyo Olympics, delayed a year from 2020 to 2021 because of the Covid pandemic, with 10 golds, 12 silvers and 16 bronzes.

It would take a significant leap to get close to the 71-medal haul (20 golds, 28 silvers, 23 bronzes) athletes representing the Russian Olympic Committee achieved to finish fifth in the Japanese capital.

France’s largest ever haul of golds was 15 in the 1996 Atlanta Games, as statistics presented Friday indicated that a host country normally multiplied its Olympic titles by “between 1.5 and 2.3 percent”.

That offers a glimmer of hope, albeit thanks to a calculator, of France attaining the ambitious medal goal on home soil where an estimated two-thirds of spectators will be French, according to National Olympic Committee head David Lappartient.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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Top News

Editorial: Player on the world stage

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It’s unfair to judge Kissinger from the prism of present-day politics as his worldview was a product of the turbulent times he lived in

Published Date – 11:59 PM, Fri – 1 December 23


Editorial: Player on the world stage

Henry Kissinger (Photo: X)

Celebrated and reviled in equal measure, Henry Kissinger, who died at the age of 100, was undoubtedly one of the most influential global figures who shaped post-World War geopolitics, particularly American foreign policy. It would be unfair to judge this powerful diplomat and scholar from the prism of present-day politics as his unsentimental worldview or his pragmatic diplomacy was a product of the turbulent times he lived in. Having guided America through the Cold War history, as Secretary of State and national security adviser between the late 1960s and 1970s, Kissinger left a complicated legacy that still resonates in the current relations with China, Russia and the Middle East. Revered in some parts of the world for his diplomatic and negotiating skills but scorned in others for pursuing policies that promoted autocratic regimes and violation of human rights, his biggest contribution was establishing friendly relations with China and achieving a détente with the Soviet Union. While Indians may not forgive him for the American support to Pakistan during the 1971 war to liberate Bangladesh, it must be pointed out that such a policy was driven by realpolitik of protecting an important Cold War ally — Pakistan — and also embracing an ideological adversary like Communist China as a strategic partner to serve the US interests in the 1970s. One should resist the temptation of using one single event in history to make a sweeping judgement of an influential global diplomat. Instead, international politics of the past and the people who shaped it must be viewed from a larger geopolitical dynamic.

As an exponent of power politics, Kissinger had no hesitation in accepting, during interviews later, that he would have done precisely what Indira Gandhi did in 1971 — seize an opportune moment to break up Pakistan and establish India’s primacy in the subcontinent. In fact, it was Kissinger who was among the first to prod Washington to recognise the reality of a nuclear India, when New Delhi conducted nuclear tests in 1998, and called for finding political accommodation with India by putting aside the non-proliferation ideology. No doubt, Kissinger was a player on the world stage, decades after retiring from government service, till the very end, transforming almost every global relationship he touched. Kissinger was particularly popular in China whose leadership venerated him for his landmark role in forging a diplomatic opening to Beijing. While Kissinger’s role in shaping the geopolitics of much of the 20th century was immense and unparalleled, having advised 12 American presidents, his legacy is not without its flaws. His Cold War realism allowed him to view smaller nations as mere pawns in the greater battle. He was the architect of the Nixon administration’s efforts to topple Chile’s democratically elected Socialist president, Salvador Allende. He was also accused of breaking international law by authorising the secret carpet-bombing of Cambodia in 1969-70.

Middle East

UAE hosting Herzog emboldens regime to commit more crimes: Yemen

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Yemen’s Ansarullah movement has lashed out at the United Arab Emirates for hosting the Israeli president for the UN climate summit, saying this emboldens the regime to commit even more acts of massacre against the Palestinian people.

In a post on X, Muhammad Abdulsalam, a spokesman for the movement, said conferences should be held to address Israeli atrocities, which he said have polluted “the humanitarian climate.”

“The humanitarian climate is polluted by Israel’s crimes and those who encourage, support, and assist it, and this is what requires conferences to confront, combat, and address it by all possible means.”

The Palestinian movement Hamas also denounced the invitation of Herzog to the conference at a time when the occupation forces were committing massacres in their genocidal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza.

“We earnestly urge the friendly state, the United Arab Emirates, as the host nation, to cancel this invitation, irrespective of the conference’s nature,” the movement said in a statement on Friday.

Instead of providing the “criminal” Herzog with a platform, the conference should have boycotted the regime and held Herzog and other Israeli leaders over the heinous crimes perpetrated against defenseless civilians in Gaza, Hamas said.

Iran has also condemned the UAE’s decision to host Herzog for the conference amid Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which has left over 15,000 dead so far.

On Thursday, Iran’s government said President Ebrahim Raeisi had skipped the conference due to the invitation of the Israeli president to the summit.

On Friday, Iran’s delegation to the meeting, led by Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian, left the conference and headed back in protest to the participation of Herzog. 

“Iran regards the political and biased presence of the fake Zionist regime in the climate change summit, which aims to evaluate the performance of the international community in facing climate change, as contrary to the objectives of this conference, and vacates the conference venue in protest,” Mehrabian said before leaving Dubai.

An Israeli delegation of 28 officials attended this year’s annual United Nations climate summit COP28, which kicked off Thursday.

Israeli media have reported that the purpose of Herzog’s visit to the UAE was to use the “diplomatic space” available in the international climate summit to consolidate Tel Aviv’s position in the war on Gaza and the release of Israeli captives.

Herzog has held meetings with several world leaders on the sidelines of the summit, including with Emirati President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. 

 

Sports

Ajesh’s ton goes in vain

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In another match, Satyam Colts defeated SUCC by massive 10 wickets

Published Date – 11:51 PM, Fri – 1 December 23


Ajesh’s ton goes in vain

In another match, Satyam Colts defeated SUCC by massive 10 wickets

Hyderabad: K Ajesh hit an unbeaten 108 but his side Lal Bahadur PG lost to Chums XI by 37 runs in the HCA C Division one-day league match in Hyderabad, on Friday.
In another match, Satyam Colts defeated SUCC by massive 10 wickets.

Brief Scores: SUCC 83 in 34.2 overs (K Parushuram 3/20, V Yashmith Reddy 4/6) lost to Satyam Colts 84/0 in 10 overs; Chums XI 251/6 in 45 overs (Krishna Jaiswal 55) bt Lal Bahadur PG 214/7 in 45 overs (K Ajesh 108no).

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Mohammed Shami Consults Sports Orthopaedic In Mumbai For Ankle Condition

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Star pacer Mohammed Shami has developed an ankle condition, which currently requires medical attention, as the Indian team management will hope that he regains fitness in time for the first Test against South Africa starting from December 26 at Centurion. Shami’s name has been kept in the Test squad with a star mark and the BCCI media release stated that he “is currently undergoing medical treatment and his availability is subject to fitness.” However, there was no specific information on the nature of the injury as to whether he suffered it on the field or more fitness related. But it has been learnt that Shami was in Mumbai to consult a sports orthopaedic to diagnose his ankle condition.

“It is not exactly an on-field injury. It is an ankle condition that has developed. Shami came to Mumbai to consult the doctors. He will also go to NCA for rehab and recuperation work.

“The national selectors wouldn’t have selected him had there not been a chance of him getting fit in time for the Boxing Day Test,” a BCCI source, privy to the development, told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

Shami didn’t appear in the first four matches of the recent ODI World Cup due to the team composition requirements.

He got a chance to play in the fifth match after Hardik Pandya tore his left ankle ligament trying to stop a powerful shot on his follow-through in the match against Bangladesh.

Shami ended up getting 24 wickets in seven games and was one of the biggest reasons behind India’s sustained dominance for 10 straight games in the showpiece before losing the final to Australia.

“Shami, in fact, came to watch one of Bengal’s Vijay Hazare Trophy games as his younger brother Mohammed Kaif is also playing. He seemed to be walking with a slight limp,” a Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) source said.

It will be interesting to note whether Shami would play the three-day intra-squad match between India Seniors and India A squads, which is a tune-up for the Tests.

It is also learnt for the time being, Shami won’t play white ball games as there are seven Test matches, including five against England at home and the ‘Amroha Express’ is expected to play a big role in the sub-continental conditions where the ball reverses a lot.

Whether Shami will play next year’s T20 World Cup will depend on how he fares in the Indian Premier League, where he has had two good seasons for the Gujarat Titans.

Easwaran to play 1st A Test

It was also learnt that Abhimanyu Easwaran has sustained four stitches on his right hand during a Vijay Hazare Trophy game but he will be fit to play the first four-day ‘Test’ between India A and South Africa A between December 11-14.

“Abhimanyu sustained a cut between third and fourth finger. He had stitches and was advised a week’s rest. Hence by December 6, he should be good to go and if A ‘Test’ is on December 11, there is every chance he will play,” a CAB source informed.

IPL GC to wait for EC

The Indian Premier League (IPL) governing council met on Thursday and decided that the schedule of 2024 edition could only be chalked out once the Election Commission of India (ECI) announces the date of next year’s general elections.

“Whether IPL will be held partially or fully in India will be decided once ECI announces the full schedule of the elections,” an IPL GC member informed.

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Middle East

Israel seeks to assassinate Hamas leaders around the world: WSJ

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The Israeli regime’s top spy agencies reportedly seek to “assassinate” Hamas leaders around the world after its brutal war on the Gaza Strip that has already killed more than 15,000 Palestinians ends. 

With orders from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the regime’s top spy agencies, including Mossad, are working on plans to assassinate Hamas leaders living in Lebanon, Turkey, Qatar, and other Persian Gulf countries, The Wall Street Journal cites unnamed Israeli officials on Thursday. 

“The question now for Israeli leaders isn’t about whether to try to kill Hamas leaders elsewhere in the world, but where—and how, the officials said,” wrote the newspaper.

The report claimed that there had been calls to immediately assassinate Khaled Meshaal, one of the top Hamas leaders, after the Palestinian resistance group launched the Al-Aqsa Storm Operation against the regime on October 7.

Israel’s prime minister hinted at the regime’s plans for assassinations abroad in an address in late November, when he said that he had “instructed the Mossad to act against the heads of Hamas wherever they are.”

Israel has a long history of conducting assassination operations outside its borders in violation of international law, sovereignty of other countries, and human rights.

Israel’s  minister of military  affairs Yoav Gallant also threatened Hamas leaders back then, saying, “The struggle is worldwide.”

Efraim Halevy, a former Mossad director, however, told the Journal that the regime’s plan “is not supported by everyone.”

“Pursuing Hamas on a worldwide scale and trying to systematically remove all its leaders from this world is a desire to exact revenge, not a desire to achieve a strategic aim.”

After Israel was caught off guard by Hamas operation on the occupied territories, it started a brutal bombing campaign against the besieged Gaza Strip. The regime has so far killed more than 15,000 Palestinians, about 40 percent of whom are children. 

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80 Gaza Hostages Released In Truce Week. Who Are The Remaining 137?

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80 Gaza Hostages Released In Truce Week. Who Are The Remaining 137?

The Israeli government said Friday that 137 people were still being held.

Paris:

Over the course of the past week Hamas released 80 Israeli women, children and teenagers as part of a truce agreement in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

The Palestinian militants also freed 25 others outside the scope of the truce deal, most of them Thai farm workers, bringing to 105 the number of captives released during the pause in hostilities.

With five hostages having already been freed before the truce, a total of 110 captives have returned home alive — 33 children, 49 women and 28 men — out of an initial group of around 240.

As Israel resumes its offensive in Gaza, we look at who is still believed to be in captivity.

The Israeli government said Friday that 137 people were still being held — 126 Israelis, eight Thais, one Nepali, one Tanzanian and a French-Mexican identified as Orion Hernandez-Radoux, 32, by his family.

– Baby boy –

AFP has managed to identify 110 of the remaining hostages, mainly through interviews with their relatives or Israeli media reports.

It is far from certain that all are alive.

Hamas claims the youngest hostage, 10-month-old Kfir Bibas, was killed in an Israeli air strike on Gaza along with his mother Shiri Bibas, 32, and brother Ariel, four.

Israel has yet to confirm the fate of the family, which has come to symbolise the brutality of the hostage-taking.

The Israeli government on Friday confirmed the deaths of two hostages: Noa Marciano, a 19-year-old soldier, and Yehudit Weiss, a 65-year-old woman from Beeri kibbutz.

– At least 17 women –

Besides the Bibas boys there are no child hostages known to be left in Gaza.

The last minor to be released was 17-year-old Aisha al-Zayadna, a Bedouin girl who was freed on the last day of the truce on Thursday along with her 18-year-old brother.

At least 17 women are still being held in Gaza, including Shiri Bibas.

The oldest are Ofra Keidar and Judith Weinstein Haggai, both aged 70.

The women also include Noa Argamani, a 26-year-old who was filmed screaming “Don’t kill me!” as she was whisked away on a motorbike from the Tribe of Nova desert rave. Argamani appeared in a video from Gaza shortly afterwards, drinking a bottle of water on a couch.

Five women aged 18-19 were performing their military service when they were snatched.

As soldiers they were excluded from the prisoner swap.

– Men in their 80s –

At least 91 men are still being held, including 10 aged between 18 and 22, most of whom were on military service at the time of the October 7 attack.

Some of the men are fathers of children who were freed with their mothers, relatives or other families in the past week.

They include David Cunio, whose wife Sharon and twin three-year-old daughters Emma and Yuli were released on Monday as well as Tal Shoham, whose wife Adina, son Naveh, eight, and daughter Yahel, three, were released on Saturday.

The father of a French-Israeli boy, 12-year-old Eitan Yahalomi, who was released on Monday into the arms of his mother, is also still being held.

Some of the men are in their 70s and 80s.

Over a month after Hamas released two elderly women, Yocheved Lifshitz and Nurit Kuper, their husbands Oded Lifshitz, 83, and Amiram Kuper, 85, are still being held.

Oded Lifshitz has been described by his family as a passionate human rights defender from Nir Oz kibbutz, who used to drive people from Gaza to hospital.

– Dozens of ravers –

At least 33 people abducted during the Hamas massacre at the Tribe of Nova festival are still being held. Only five were released during the truce, including 21-year-old French-Israeli Mia Shem.

Of the others, at least 28 come from Nir Oz kibbutz near the Gaza border, which had at least 71 of its roughly 400 residents abducted.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)